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Environment and Human Health, Inc. Asks the State of Connecticut to Ban Outdoor Wood Boilers, also known as Outdoor Wood-Burning FurnacesEHHI Press Release
[Hartford, Connecticut, December 9, 2009] Environment and Human Health, Inc. (EHHI), a non-profit organization composed of nine physicians and public health professionals, is asking the State of Connecticut to ban Outdoor Wood Burning Furnaces. These devices burn 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They are relentless in the amount of thick smoke they emit—often polluting whole neighborhoods. Three towns in Connecticut have already banned these devices—and the State of Washington has banned them throughout the entire state—because they are harmful to human health. The American Lung Association also supports this initiative. EHHI has been receiving an ever-growing number of desperate phone calls from families who are being made sick by wood smoke emissions coming into their homes on a continuous basis from their neighbors' wood-burning furnaces. Many of these people seek medical treatment and are given inhalers and steroids. Many suffer from bronchitis, sinusitis and pneumonia caused by the inhalation of wood smoke, which often necessitates prescription antibiotics as well. Many end up in emergency rooms. These families come to EHHI only after they have exhausted all of Connecticut's governmental and legal avenues. Because there are not sufficient laws in Connecticut to protect these people, they have only two options—to continue to be sick or to move. In this economy it is almost impossible to move. Why is wood smoke a problem when it enters someone's home on a continuous basis? Wood smoke contains many of the same chemicals as cigarette smoke. It is both an irritant and a carcinogen. It interferes with the normal lung development in infants and children. People who are exposed to their neighbors' wood smoke suffer sore eyes and throats, and when the exposure continues, many suffer from chronic respiratory illnesses, such as bronchitis and pneumonia. Wood smoke particles are so small that if the smoke is very close to a house, doors and windows cannot keep it out. Even new, energy-efficient and weather-tight houses cannot prevent wood smoke from entering homes. EHHI Public Health Toxicologist David Brown, Sc.D., says, "The wood smoke particles are so small that they go deep into the lungs and deliver the chemicals that adhere to them into the human body. Recent studies show that exposures to wood smoke can lead to increased risks for heart attacks and damaged lungs, and can cause respiratory illnesses. Recent studies also show that cancers increase and death rates are higher in people exposed to wood smoke." Leslie Balch, RN, MPH, Director of the Quinnipiack Valley Health District reports, "Many are being made sick by wood smoke emissions, and therefore local health directors need the right tools to help them. The words 'wood smoke' need to be included in the Conn. Public Health Code so that we can better help these people who are looking to us for assistance." EHHI President Nancy Alderman adds, "These Outdoor Wood Burning Furnaces need to be banned before further damage is done to the citizens of Connecticut. First, ‘wood smoke’ needs to be added to the Public Health Nuisance Code; and second, Outdoor Wood Burning Furnaces, also known as Outdoor Wood Boilers, should be banned in the state.” |
Wood Smoke
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